FMI-Based Distributed Co-Simulation with Enhanced Security and Intellectual Property Safeguards

TL;DR

This paper introduces a secure distributed co-simulation framework based on FMI and UniFMU, enhancing cybersecurity and IP protection for collaborative modeling of continuous-time and hybrid systems.

Contribution

It proposes a novel approach for secure distributed co-simulation with IP safeguards, addressing gaps in existing guidelines and implementation practices.

Findings

Demonstrated the approach with two co-simulation demos in various network settings.

Analyzed the trade-off between IP protection and performance efficiency.

Ensured models and binaries remain on trusted platforms, with client-initiated connections.

Abstract

Distributed co-simulation plays a key role in enabling collaborative modeling and simulation by different stakeholders while protecting their Intellectual Property (IP). Although IP protection is provided implicitly by co-simulation, there is no consensus in the guidelines to conduct distributed co-simulation of continuous-time or hybrid systems with no exposure to potential hacking attacks. We propose an approach for distributed co-simulation on top of UniFMU with enhanced cybersecurity and IP protection mechanisms, ensuring that the connection is initiated by the client and the models and binaries live on trusted platforms. We showcase the functionality of this approach using two co-simulation demos in four different network settings and analyze the trade-off between IP-protected distribution and performance efficiency in these settings.